Andrew Yang says Dean Phillips is best hope for beating Donald Trump ahead of San Francisco visit
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Many voters have never heard of him, and Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips is trying to change that.
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Fresh off the New Hampshire primary, where the Minnesota congressman and one of only two challengers to President Biden for the Democratic nomination captured 20% of the vote, Phillips is trying to raise his profile in Silicon Valley.
He's speaking at Manny's in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon.
Recently, he's received either the endorsement or the attention of several tech entrepreneurs and Elon Musk.
Reports say a new super PAC tied to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is raising fund for his long shot campaign.
Phillips is also getting a boost from another former long shot presidential candidate, businessman Andrew Yang.
Yang appeared on "ABC7 News Getting Answers" after the New Hampshire primary and told ABC7 News anchor Kristen Sze that Phillips is staying in the race, despite losing to Biden by a wide margin, when the president's name was not even on that state's ballot.
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"Going from zero to 20% in about 10 weeks is a remarkable achievement, and it shows a real appetite for competition on the Democratic side," Yang said. "A lot of people listening to this right now may have supported Joe Biden like I did in 2020, but would like a choice, would like to maybe have someone under the age of 80 who might be able to make Trump the super old candidate."
Yang points out recent polls that show voter concern with both Biden and Trump's age, and that Trump narrowly leads Biden in a hypothetical matchup, whereas a generic Democrat holds an advantage over Trump. It is important to note polls also find a generic Republican would fare better than Trump against Biden.
The 55-year-old congressman and businessman's candidacy has not won him friends within the Democratic establishment. Phillips has said in interviews that he was forced to jump into the nominating race after more prominent Democrats such as Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer refused to enter.
Yang is urging primary voters to get to know Phillips' platform, including universal healthcare, affordable housing, tuition-free vocational school and college and a universal $1,000 baby bond.
"It's like look, he's doing it the right way, he's not running third party, he's running as a Democrat to give people a choice. That's the right way to do it. If you can't do it that way and you believe your country needs it, then what kind of democracy do we have?"
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